12 SUPERLAWYERS.COM A T TORNE YS SELECTED TO SUPER LA WYERS WERE CHOSEN IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROCESS ON PAGE 15.seeking legislation against the companies. Healso managed the firm, seeing it grow to morethan 70 attorneys around the country. WhileMotley became the well-known face of thelitigation, Richardson worked behind the scenes“getting the right personalities in the rightplace,” he says. “There are the people who startthings; the plodders who keep it going; and thenthose who get the case ready for the jury. Wehad great people with different skills, and we dida good job getting them in the right slots.”Soon after brokering the $206 billionsettlement with the tobacco companies in

1998, the firm broke up over philosophical
differences. “You get three lawyers and
you’ve got a lot of opinions. You get 75
plaintiffs’ lawyers, and, we’re all friends, but
we had different approaches,” Richardson
says. Even so, he is proud of shepherding
the business side of the break-up, and that
he was joined by three more of the firm’s
shareholders to form Richardson, Patrick,
Westbrook & Brickman in 2002. Today
the firm has about 30 attorneys, most in
Charleston. They still handle tobacco cases,
now on behalf of Canadian provinces.

WHEN HE’S NOT PRACTICING, Richardson
spends his time with Gail, their three children
and nine grandchildren. In addition to
Matthew and Jay, the couple has a daughter,
Katy, who is a medical director at the
Department of Health and Environmental
Control. They often host the family at their

12-acre plot in Barnwell, a spot they’ve calledhome since 1974.Both he and Gail, a former librarian andteacher, are passionate supporters of TheNature Conservancy and public education.

Richardson chaired the conservancy’s board,
and they both helped former Gov. Jim
Hodges start the early childhood education
program, First Steps. The Gail and Terry
Richardson Center for the Child at Francis
Marion University honors the couple’s
donations and Gail’s longtime service on
its board of trustees. Terry gets animated
talking about the 2014 state Supreme Court
decision that said South Carolina is not
providing a “minimally adequate” education
in its poorest school districts. “It’s been
a lot of talk so far,” he says of the state’s
response. After all, he’s a man of action.

In January, he worked out of the firm’sCharleston office so he could watch Jayprosecute the Dylann Roof case at thefederal courthouse. “He comes to every caseI’ve ever tried, and tends to sit right behindour agents, passing notes up to me,” Jaysays. “He gives me honest, constructivefeedback, and I don’t want to say I appreciateit all the time, but I have stuck on my wallabove my computer a handful of thosenotes. … He’s similarly involved in Matthew’scases, and our sister gives talks at differentplaces and he goes to those, too.”Richardson couldn’t be prouder, and afterJay delivered the closing argument, he hadsome choice words to share with his son.

“With everyone else, it’s ‘Congrats’ and ‘This
is great’—and he says that, too—but he’ll
also say, ‘Why not follow-up with this?’ or
‘Why was the focus here?’” Jay says. “With
him, it’s a constant effort to get better. His
thought is always about the strategy and
craft of being a trial lawyer.”